Learning Design Manager

Job summary

Learning Design Manager

£77,000 per annum

Bedford

Permanent

Hybrid Working

Ready to make a real difference? Join us at the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) as our Learning Design Manager. This is your chance to play a meaningful role in helping people across the UK build stronger financial futures and to do it as part of a supportive, energetic team.

Why This Role Matters

The Learning Designer Manager is a new role that supports a national training offer delivered to a wide network of external organisations and practitioners across the UK, designed to improve their understanding, skills, and confidence in money guidance and financial education for the benefit of their customers or service users.

The largest initiative - Money Guiders - is undergoing significant expansion and currently includes:

• 250 programme partners
• 17,000 practitioners (learners)
• A UK-wide programme of learning and CPD events
• A high-profile annual conference
• A comprehensive eLearning suite
• City & Guilds Assured digital credentials
• A unique Money Guidance Competency Framework

The postholder will operate at a strategic level, with accountability for learning design standards, supplier budgets, and the development of a high-performing team of learning designers. The role requires both hands-on oversight and strategic leadership within a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.

You’ll join a team that’s passionate, collaborative, and driven by the belief that financial confidence should be something everyone can access.

MaPS is based in bright, modern offices in Bedford, and we’re here to help people across the UK feel more confident and informed about their money.

Our values guide how we work together:

• Caring – for colleagues and the communities we support
• Connecting – building supportive, positive relationships
• Transforming – creating impact that truly matters

We’re proud to foster an inclusive, welcoming culture. Our colleague networks include LGBTQ+, neurodiversity, women’s health, men’s health and ethnicity groups — and we welcome applications from all backgrounds.

Job description

Leadership and team management

• Build a specialist Learning Design function with capabilities to support the Target Operating Model that will deliver Money Guiders at scale and the broader work of Guidance and Education Systems.
• Lead, manage and develop a team of Learning Designers, ensuring high performance, consistency and continuous professional development.
• Project management of, an accountability for, the delivery of the training content pipeline.
• Set clear priorities, objectives and workload planning across the team.
• Provide coaching and oversight to ensure high quality training design and content development.
• Foster a collaborative, innovative and learner-focused team culture.

Learning Design Oversight and Quality Assurance

• Provide strategic direction in translating technical content into engaging and effective learning experiences.
• Ensure all training solutions are pedagogically robust and form part of a cohesive curriculum that supports the Money Guidance Competency Framework.
• Lead and co-ordinate end-to-end processes for content authoring, design, development and delivery of new training solutions across a range of instructional approaches and formats including eLearning, webinars, workshops, microlearning, video and assessments.
• Oversee the lifecycle management of a large and growing digital learning library, including technical content updates, and refreshing instructional approaches.
• Ensure content remains relevant, engaging, accessible, and aligned with external accreditation, brand and organisational standards.
• Establish and maintain quality assurance processes and hold overall accountability for the quality, consistency and effectiveness of all solutions developed by the team.

Stakeholder and Supplier Management

• Manage relationships with external suppliers and vendors involved in content creation and production.
• Hold accountability for supplier contracts, budgets and value for money.
• Oversee alignment of internal and external project plans to ensure timely delivery of learning programmes and resources.
• Work collaboratively with internal teams e.g. platform operations, external accreditation, events, to ensure training programmes are delivered effectively.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders including subject matter experts (SMEs), authors, trainers, facilitators.
• Ensure training content is informed by learner-needs and real-world experiences, and reflects the diverse contexts in which practitioners work.

Evaluation and Continuous Improvement

• Oversee the use of data and insights to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of training solutions
• Ensure robust evaluation frameworks are in place across all training solutions.
• Lead continuous improvement activity based on learner feedback, performance data and organisational priorities.

Business Planning

• Contribute to strategic planning and prioritisation of training solutions to support practitioners, leaders and manager in a wide range of job roles and sectors.
• Ensure training content is compatible with digital learning platforms and systems.
• Oversee and continuously improve systems, tools and processes used by the team.
• Promote efficient and scalable ways of working to support significant growth in learner numbers.

Person specification

To be successful in this role, you’ll need:

Essential:

1. Significant experience in learning and training design, leadership and team management
2. Demonstrable experience with learning technologies including platforms (e.g. LMS/LXP), market leading tools (e.g. Adapt, Articulate 360, Adobe Captivate, Synthesia, Camtasia) and data/analytics tools.
3. Experience overseeing large-scale training programmes and managing content portfolios across digital, non-digital and blended formats.
4. Strong stakeholder management and collaboration skills, including with suppliers.
5. Ability to use data and evaluation to drive improvements in learning effectiveness.

.

Desirable:

1. Experience working with skills and competency frameworks.
2. Knowledge of financial capability, money guidance, or related sectors.
3. Experience with accredited training or digital credentialing.

Personal Attributes:

• Strategic and forward-thinking, with strong planning and co-ordination skills.

• Passionate about creating impactful, inclusive learning experiences.
• Strong leadership and people development capability.
• Highly organised, with the ability to manage complexity and competing priorities.
• Collaborative and adaptable in a fast-evolving environment.

Benefits

• 30 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays
• Pension contributions matched 2 to 1 (employer contribution up to 10% of your salary)
• Season ticket loan
• Cycle to work scheme (up to £3,000)
• Subsidised eye tests & flu jabs
• Life assurance
• EAP Assist & Life
• Enhanced family and sick pay
• 2 paid volunteering days
• Recognition scheme
• Retail discounts portal

Flexible Working

We believe work should fit around life. This Bedford‑based role offers genuine flexibility so you can balance work, family, and personal commitments. We come together for purposeful team collaboration to stay connected and drive great results.

Career Development
We love supporting internal growth and progression, while continuing to follow fair and open Civil Service recruitment practices.

Important Information About Applying

• Please apply only via official MaPS links - we can’t accept applications via email or unauthorised sites.
• MaPS is unable to offer visa sponsorship.

Reserve List: If you're successful at interview, we may place you on a reserve list for up to 6 months. If a similar role becomes available, you may be offered it without the need for another assessment.

If you believe your application hasn’t followed the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles, you can contact resourcing@maps.org.uk. If unresolved, you may then contact the Civil Service Commission.

Job Reference: MaPS01187

Close Date: 27/05/2026

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

We keep things simple, fair, and transparent:

Step 1: Submit Your Application

Open: 12/05/2026 , Deadline: 27/05/2026

To apply, please submit the following documents:

1. Your most up-to-date CV
2. A cover letter (maximum 1,000 words). Please structure your cover letter in two parts:

• Part 1 – Motivation and fit
  Explain why you are interested in this role and how your experience and values align with it.
• Part 2 – Essential Criteria
  Using the five Essential Criteria as headings, provide concise examples that demonstrate your judgement, level of responsibility and impact.

Step 2: Telephone Interview

Between 12/05/2026 – 01/06/2026

If your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to a telephone interview with one of our recruiters. This is an opportunity to:

• Discuss your experience in more detail
• Learn more about the role and our organisation
• Ask any questions you may have

Step 3: Final Stage Interview

Hosted week commencing 08/06/2026

Successful candidates from the telephone interview will be invited to attend an in-person interview in our Bedford office on 10th or 11th of June

This stage will consist of:
• A short presentation and discussion, followed by
• A structured interview

Together, these will explore how candidates apply their experience, judgement and skills to scenarios relevant to the role.

We follow fair, open, and merit‑based recruitment in line with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : sophie rigney
• Email : sophie.rigney@reed.com

Recruitment team

• Email : sophie.rigney@reed.com